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I understand A. But what on earth does B (up to two if authorized to carry less then three) mean. Does it limit viewers to 2 significantly viewed stations?

Walter

``SEC. 341. CARRIAGE OF TELEVISION SIGNALS TO CERTAIN SUBSCRIBERS.

``(a)(1) In General.--A cable operator or satellite carrier may elect to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county--

``(A) any television broadcast stations that are located in the State in which the county is located and that any cable operator or satellite carrier was retransmitting to subscribers in the county on January 1, 2004; or

``( up to 2 television broadcast stations located in the State in which the county is located, if the number of television broadcast stations that the cable operator or satellite carrier is authorized to carry under paragraph (1) is less than 3.

``(2) Deemed Significantly Viewed.--Any station described in subsection (a) is deemed to be significantly viewed in the eligible county within the meaning of section 76.54 of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 76.54).

``(3) Definition of Eligible County.--For purposes of this section, the term ``eligible county'' means any 1 of 4 counties that--

``(A) are in a single State;

``( on January 1, 2004, were each in designated market ares in which the majority of counties were located in another State or States; and

``(4) Limitation.--Carriage of a station under this section shall be at the option of the cable operator or satellite carrier.''.

``( Certain Markets.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a satellite carrier may not carry the signal of a television station into an adjacent local market that is comprised of only a portion of a county, other than to unserved households located in that county.''.

That sure confuses me. I live in Southwestern Michigan. Our DMA is South Bend, Indiana. Comcast carries the South Bend stations as well as 4 stations from Chicago.
No Michigan stations at all, except for one out of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo area, an adjacent DMA, which is blacked out except for local newscasts.

I live in NJ where only a few PBS stations are based inthe state (there may be a univision affiliate or something as well, but none of the big broadcast networks..... UPN is in Secaucus, but I don't consider UPN a real network (after they cancel Enterprise I can safely delete it from my favorites channel list).

SE Monmouth County has both NY and Philly stations on cable, so I'm guessing this is what they will give us access to on the satellite front......

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau Walden (1854)

Dish Network doesn't have to carry another NCE channel that duplicates the programming of one of the other four NCE channels they already carry. And since MPT is in the DC DMA (Frederick, MD), even with must-carry, Dish Network does not have to carry it. It is a lark that DirecTV does carry it.

I never said it was up to the FCC. I said that I received that reply from DISH but did not find it credible in light of DTV's carriage.

MPT has quitea bit of programming distinct from the other PBS stations and is indeed "significantly viewed" in the DMA----from bothe the Frederick (inside the DMA) and Annapolis stations (the one you can actually receive OTA here)

I would like tos ee it but do not expect to.

I never cared for all the signatures that insult posters with other points of view.

I live in NJ where only a few PBS stations are based inthe state (there may be a univision affiliate or something as well, but none of the big broadcast networks......

WMGM TV 40 Wildwood, NJ is an NBC affiliate. It is in the Philadelphia TV Market.

See yaTony

For the life of me I will never understand why people will pay hundreds and thousands of dollars on a TV that provides the clearest, sharpest, most realistic picture possible and then, voluntarily, distort the image!

Just wait until Verizon has most of its customers with all those local stations (along with many other phone companies) and the powerline companies as well in the next 5 or 10 years. By that time space may not be as big of an issue. Just look at what has been accomplished during the past three years on getting locals and now talks of HD locals launched.

Will E* contact customers who have become eligible to receive other nets?

Most likely.

The first step is for the FCC to determine which "significantly viewed" channels are eligible to be viewed in which communities outside their own DMA. They MUST do this within 60 days of enactment, and MUST make the list and any later modifications public (and on their website).

Then it is up to E* to decide if they will carry the eligible channels in elegible communities. They do not have to carry them at all. But if they decide to carry them, they MUST give 60 days notice before turning on the channels.

It will be a while before they are available to subs, and they may just appear after all the notifications are complete - no further subscription needed. (Noting that one of the factors making you elegible will be subscribing to your own locals.)

If it is going to cost Dish/Direct more money to carry these channels then they may not do this in the smaller markets, maybe just the larger ones, especially since they are wanting the space for HD.

It's reasonable to assume that:

1. The DBS providers will add few (if any) stations specifically for this purpose. (They'll include stations from nearby markets that they otherwise carry.)

2. In most cases, a station that fits the above criterion already is retransmitted via a spot beam that reaches the out-of-DMA area in which it's "significantly viewed." In other words, no additional bandwidth will be exhausted.

If it is going to cost Dish/Direct more money to carry these channels then they may not do this in the smaller markets, maybe just the larger ones, especially since they are wanting the space for HD.

It won't (other than administrative costs). Smaller markets are the places where there is the greatest need, desire, and eligibility for "Significantly Viewed" stations from other DMAs. If the station is up there for its own DMA, it can easily be made available for the neighboring communities.

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.

Smaller markets are the places where there is the greatest need, desire, and eligibility for "Significantly Viewed" stations from other DMAs.

That's quite true, particularly regarding need and desire.

Another common example of eligibility is a rural area that's approximately an equal distance from two or more major cities.

In the state of New Jersey, each county is part of either the New York City DMA or the Philadelphia DMA. My county (Ocean) belongs to the former, but much of the county is closer to (or an equal distance from) the latter. Most of the major Philadelphia television stations have been available via cable for years and years, and most non-satellite customers throughout the county (who are entirely unfamiliar with the concept of a "DMA") draw absolutely no distinction between them and the New York City stations. (All of them are thought of as the "local" stations.)

Therefore, it comes as quite a surprise and disappointment to these individuals when they learn that DirecTV and Dish Network are legally prohibited from providing the Philadelphia stations to Ocean County subscribers. For many (especially those who follow Philadelphia sports and/or news), this is a deal-breaker (and a MAJOR unfair advantage for Comcast). The new legislation promises to level the playing field, and I anticipate a sizable impact in areas such as mine.

Of course, my family "moved" to a town in the Catskill Mountains region (a white area in New York City DMA) earlier this year. If we're able to retain our Los Angeles distants, that's where we'll be staying. (We're originally from the New York City area, so local Philadelphia programming is of little interest to us.) If/when we lose our Los Angeles distants, we'll "move" back to our actual address. (If nothing else, the availability of Philadelphia stations would serve as a means of circumventing local pre-emptions.)

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.

I'm not sure that I follow. Do you mean that some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMAs in which stations from neighboring DMAs are "significantly viewed"? If so, that shouldn't be an issue. For this purpose, the boundaries will be far more specific than that. (While not identical, the criteria should be roughly as strict as those applied to cable systems).

In other words, the fact that residents of my area (which is part of the New York City DMA) will qualify to receive Philadelphia locals doesn't mean that everyone in the New York City DMA will qualify.

DirecTV (D*) will have more trouble than Dish Network (E* for EchoStar) since some of their spots don't cover the entire DMAs where LILs are offered. But E*'s current spotbeams are more generous.

I'm not sure that I follow. Do you mean that some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMAs in which stations from neighboring DMAs are "significantly viewed"?

Some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMA where the channels can already be offered under current law as local-in-local. Expecting their spots to reach outside of those DMA to the new communities allowed under Significantly Viewed may be asking too much. And likewise for the spots completely covering their own DMA. D* has chosen to make smaller spotbeams and reuse frequencies more times than E* (a result of D* having less transponder space to work with).

I hope E*'s design of E10 allows for large enough spot beams to allow for significantly viewed channels to operate EVERYWHERE that the FCC says they can be viewed.

B. It allows communities that are closer to comunties broadcasting in another DMA to get those close stations for news and local sports

C. It allows communities served only or primarily by out of state stations to get in-state news

Now my question. Did any one notice that significantly viewed is being applied to counties instead of communities? If a channel is significantly viewed in any part of the county is significantly viewed for the entire county. I am wrong that this is a significant change? For communities in large counties, this could be significant. For example, the Springfield PBS and NBC stations are significantly viewed in southern and central Berkshire cable but not available in northern Berkshire county cable. Are there other areas in the country where there are different significantly viewed stations in different parts of the same country?

Some of DirecTV's spot beams fail to cover the entire DMA where the channels can already be offered under current law as local-in-local.

Yikes, I wasn't aware of that. Do you know of any specific examples? I would assume that they must be markets that were added after the implementation of spot beaming. (Otherwise, some subscribers would have lost their locals during the changeover.)

Did any one notice that significantly viewed is being applied to counties instead of communities?

SEC. 340. SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED SIGNALS PERMITTED TO BE CARRIED..(a) SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED STATIONS.—In addition to the broadcast signals that subscribers may receive under section 338 and 339, a satellite carrier is also authorized to retransmit to a subscriber located in a community the signal of any station located outside the local market in which such subscriber is located, to the extent such signal—(1) has, before the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004, been determined by the Federal Communications Commission to be a signal a cable operator may carry as significantly viewed in such community, except to the extent that such signal is prevented from being carried by a cable system in such community under the Commission's network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules; or(2) is, after such date of enactment, determined by the Commission to be significantly viewed in such community in accordance with the same standards and procedures concerning shares of viewing hours and audience surveys as are applicable under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed in a community.

SEC. 340. SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED SIGNALS PERMITTED TO BE CARRIED..(a) SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED STATIONS.—In addition to the broadcast signals that subscribers may receive under section 338 and 339, a satellite carrier is also authorized to retransmit to a subscriber located in a community the signal of any station located outside the local market in which such subscriber is located, to the extent such signal—(1) has, before the date of enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004, been determined by the Federal Communications Commission to be a signal a cable operator may carry as significantly viewed in such community, except to the extent that such signal is prevented from being carried by a cable system in such community under the Commission's network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules; or(2) is, after such date of enactment, determined by the Commission to be significantly viewed in such community in accordance with the same standards and procedures concerning shares of viewing hours and audience surveys as are applicable under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed in a community.

``(A) a county or a cable community, as determined under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission applicable to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed; or

``( a satellite community, as determined under such rules, regulations, and authorizations (or revisions thereof) as the Commission may prescribe in implementing the requirements of this section.

My "significantly viewed" channels that are shown on nearby cable include only 3 networks from Little Rock (NBC, CBS, ABC).

This leads me to a couple of questions, first if I am given the chance to subscribe to significantly viewed channels on D*, would they only offer those 3 networks? Secondly, the LR locals are on a spot beam. I can only get a signal strength of 70 on that beam. Can they increase the coverage of their beams and would they sell me locals if I can only get a 70 for strength?

My "significantly viewed" channels that are shown on nearby cable include only 3 networks from Little Rock (NBC, CBS, ABC).

This leads me to a couple of questions, first if I am given the chance to subscribe to significantly viewed channels on D*, would they only offer those 3 networks? Secondly, the LR locals are on a spot beam. I can only get a signal strength of 70 on that beam. Can they increase the coverage of their beams and would they sell me locals if I can only get a 70 for strength?

Thanks

I'm wondering the same thing about your first question.I'm in the South Bend, IN DMA. Comcast now carries, and has, since cable was installed over 20 years ago, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS from Chicago. Until several months ago, we also had OTA WGN on channel 9. They replaced the off the air signal with the satellite version and moved it to a higher channel.

Under definitions:``(3) COMMUNITY.--The term `community' means--``(A) a county or a cable community, as determined under the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the Commission applicable to determining with respect to a cable system whether signals are significantly viewed; or``( a satellite community, as determined under such rules, regulations, and authorizations (or revisions thereof) as the Commission may prescribe in implementing the requirements of this section.

I found that later in the morning as well. Note that it isn't just county-by-county, but by cable communuity. Some cable communities are bigger that others, but they are not all full counties.

I'm in the South Bend, IN DMA. Comcast now carries, and has, since cable was installed over 20 years ago, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS from Chicago. Until several months ago, we also had OTA WGN on channel 9. They replaced the off the air signal with the satellite version and moved it to a higher channel.

In South Bend itself Comcast does not carry the Chicago feeds. I assume that Berrien County gets them because of the Illinois residents with second residences along the lake shore. (How many Illinois plates in your neighborhood. )

One piece of good news: If you live within the Grade B coverage of the Chicago stations you will get them without blackouts (if satellite offers them).

LaPorte County Indiana viewers are in the Chicago DMA and don't currently get South Bend stations (even though cable must carry them). Currently they will need SuperDish if SB Significantly Viewed are added.

My first experience with cable in Michigan was in Sturgis and we could receive ALL the channels from Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, South Bend, and Lansing areas on our local service (plus WKBD 50 Detroit and WGN 9 Chicago). New laws made that impossible to offer. People in the southern counties of the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo DMA should also be able to get SB DMA channels (on a SuperDish).

Some cities east of SB offer both SB and Fort Wayne on cable. That won't happen on E* since SB is 105 and FW is 121 (unless the significant channels are mirrored on both satellites - which is possible.